Pathfinder - Magus Handbook

Disclaimer

I will use content from the core rules, but will intentionally omit any content not published
on the official Pathfinder SRD due to the
unmanageable volume of non-SRD content, and the wildly varying quality of non-SRD content.
If you would like me to write handbooks for specific content not published on the official
SRD, please email me and I will consider it on a case-by-case
basis. I will use the color coding scheme which has become common among Pathfinder build
handbooks. Also note that many colored items are also links to the Paizo SRD.

Red: Bad, useless options, or options which are extremely situational.

Orange: OK options, or useful options that only apply in rare circumstances

Green: Good options.

Blue: Fantastic options, often essential to the function of your character.

Temporary Note: Pathfinder Unchained and Occult Adventures were
both recently added to the SRD. I'm excited to explore them, and I am actively working
on adding their contents to my collection of handbooks. I appreciate your patience while
I make these changes.

Introduction

The Magus is everything that the Eldritch Knight wants to be; a potent combination
of the Wizard's offensive magic and the Fighter's martial prowess. In combat, the
Magus is defined by Spellstrike, which allows the Magus to deliver spells through a
weapon attack. The Magus can serve the party as a Striker and Librarian, but has the
spells to serve as a Support should the need arise.

Magus Class Features

Hit Points: d8 hit points is hard for a strictly
melee class, so be sure to keep your AC high.

Base Attack Bonus: 2/3 BAB is acceptable, and if you
keep your weapon well enhanced and your Dexterity high, it will be plenty.

Saves: Strong Fortitude and Will saves are great, and
your high Dexterity will compensate for the low Reflex save.

Proficiencies: All of the weapon and armor proficiencies
that you will need. The late introduction of medium and heavy armor proficiency are
annoying because they introdcue components to the build much later than you need them
in order to take advantage of them.

Skills: 2+ skill ranks isn't much, but your high
Intelligence will let you get whatever skills you need. Don't forget that increasing
your intelligence retroactively awards you skill ranks, and Headband of Vast
Intelligence grants you one rank per character level in one skill for every 2 points
of enhancement bonus. What? Didn't know that? Yeah, no one beleives me when I tell
them that, but it's
right
there in the core rules.

Spells: The Magus gets 2/3 casting, similar to a Bard,
but is much more dependant on spells. Spell Combat and Spellstrike are the Magus' two
most iconic combat options, and the effectiveness of those abilities is entirely defined
by the Magus' choice of spells.

Spellbooks: Spellbooks are what make the Magus and Wizard
so much more versatile than the Bard and Sorceror. You can completely change your list
of tricks every day to fit whatever you need, and much like a Wizard you can have a
functionally infinite number of spells known.

Arcane Pool (Su): Arcane pool fuels a lot of really cool
abilities for the Magus, especially his ability to enhance his weapon. If you really
like enhancing your weapon this way, be sure to pick up the Enduring Blade Magus Arcana
to help stretch your Arcane Pool points. Avoid using Arcane Pool to get the Keen
property: you should have a +1 keen rapier without Arcane Pool, and supplement it
with Arcane Pool.

Cantrips: The Magus doesn't get a lot of cantrips, but
that doesn't make them any less awesome. Be sure to bring Disrupt Undead when you get
Spellstrike because you can channel Disrupt Undead into a Spellstrike for a free
attack even if you aren't actually attacking an undead.

Spell Combat (Ex): This is the reason the Magus uses a
Rapier instead of using an Elven Curve Blade. Being able to cast a spell and use
a weapon at the same time gives you a lot of potential for damage output. You can
also take a penalty to your attacks to get a bonus to Concentration, which is nice
at low levels when your Concentration checks haven't begun to outpace your spell
levels.

Spellstrike (Su): This is why you want to use a rapier.
I can't think of another way to get a 15-20 critical threat range on a spell, and the
idea of doing 20d6 damage with an Intensified Shocking Grasp is very enticing. You
want to make sure that you're going to hit with this attack, so don't let your attack
bonus fall behind. If you're having too much trouble hitting, switch to using regular
Spell Combat so that you can use your spells as touch attacks.

Magus Arcana: The Magus' pseudo-feat. Similar to Rogue
Talents and any number of similar abilities, Magus Arcana are a great way to customize
your Magus, and many options are better than many feats. For help selecting your Magus
Arcana, see my Magus
Arcana Breakdown.

Spell Recall (Su): This will eat your Arcane Pool very
quickly, so don't plan to use this on a regular basis.

Bonus Feats: This really helps with our early feat
dependency, especially if you're not a human. Combat Feats and Metamagic Feats make
up most of your important feats, and 5th level is right when you want to get Intensify
Spell and use it on Shocking Grasp to keep the damage relevant for another 5 levels.

Knowledge Pool (Su): You can go out and buy scrolls to
learn knew spells. Unless you're somewhere that you can't do that, this really isn't
useful. If you can't find a scroll or spellbook that contains spells you want, you
can use this to bypass the requirement for source material.

Medium Armor (Ex): Medium Armor is a small improvement
to your AC. See the Armor section below for helping selecting your armor.

Improved Spell Combat (Ex): By now your Concentration
checks should be decent. Your highest DC is 18 (15+3), and with at least 16 intelligence
you have a better than even chance. If you haven't found other ways to improve your
Concentration checks (Spellguard Braces are a fantastic choice), taking a -1 penalty
to your attacks for a +3 to your Concentration check is a pretty fantastic trade.

Fighter Training (Ex): There aren't a lot of Fighter
feats that you really want at this point.

Improved Spell Recall (Su): This hugely improves your
versatility because you can call up all of those weird obscure spells that you learned
thinking you might use them once or twice in your life. You can also recharge an
Intensified Shocking Grasp for a single Arcane Pool point.

Heavy Armor (Ex): Unless your Dexterity bonus is +10 or
greater, Heavy Armor is your best option, and upgrading to Mithral Tatami-Do will get
you a nice +2 AC boost.

Greater Spell Combat (Ex): The offer is certainly
tempting, but by now your Concentration check is 14+intelligence. Assuming a very
modest 18 intelligence, you can roll a 1, score a 19, and cast a 4th level spell
guranteed. At level 15 you are guranteed to succeed when casting 5th level spells,
and at level 16 you are guranteed to succeed with 6th level spells. This ability
is completely unnecessary unless you are fighting someone with the Disruptive feat.

Counterstrike (Ex): The free attack is nice, but not
being able to disrupt the spell really handicaps this ability. If you don't have
Step Up, you probably will never get to use this.

Greater Spell Access (Su): The Wizard has a much better
spell list than the Magus, and access to a whole bunch of those spells gives you a
ton of great options.

True Magus (Su): The ability to forego casting defensively
is a token gesture because at this point you could automatically cast any of your spells
defensively with an Intelligence score of 10. The flexible bonus is nice, though.

Abilities

The Magus has some problems with MAD, especially if you want a lot of Strength for
damage, but it's manageable if you understand that you really don't need a ton of
Strength.

Str: Because the Magus starts with only light armor
proficiency, you need to invest in Dexterity. If you're going to invest in Dexterity,
you should use weapon Finesse. If you're using Weapon Finesse, you don't need Strength.
You might take a bit of strength for damage and to open up Power Attack, but it's not
strictly necessary because your damage primarily comes from your spells.

Dex: Your primary combat stat. Because the Magus starts
with only light armor, Dexterity is crucial, and the Magus' only bad save is Reflex.

Con: As a front-line character, the Magus needs all of
the hit points it can get.

Int: Your spellcasting ability, and it fuels your skill
ranks and knowledge skills. While you don't need it as much as a Wizard because you
only get 6 levels of spells, it's helpful for bonus spells, especially at low levels.

Wis: Helpful for Will saves, but Will is one of the
Magus' good saves, so don't invest too heavily..

Cha: Useless for a Magus. It only affects your Use Magtic
Device skill, and if you want to use UMD, take the Pragmatic Activator trait. Dump to
7.

25 Point Buy

20 Point Buy

15 Point Buy

Elite Array

Str: 7

Dex: 18

Con: 14

Int: 16

Wis: 12

Cha: 7

Str: 7

Dex: 16

Con: 14

Int: 16

Wis: 13

Cha: 7

Str: 7

Dex: 16

Con: 13

Int: 16

Wis: 10

Cha: 7

Str: 10

Dex: 15

Con: 13

Int: 14

Wis: 12

Cha: 8

Races

Bonuses to Dexterity or Intelligence are great. Small size doesn't matter because
the Magus doesn't need Strength or a big weapon, and being small provides a nice bonus
to AC and Attack.

Dwarf: The Dwarf is great defensively, but doesn't give
us any options that actually contribute to the Magus. The Dwarf favored class bonus
is tempting, but the few arcana which can only be used once per day aren't very good.

Elf: A bonus to both of the Magus' most important stats,
and a whole bunch of other spellcasting benefits that will really help the Magus. The
penalty to Constitution hurts, but Elven Magic can take the place of Spell Penetration,
so take Toughness if you need hit points. The Arcane Focus alternate racial trait is
a must because the Magus already gets proficiency with everything important covered
by weapon familiarity, and the favored class bonus is great if you need a few more
Magus Arcana slots.

Gnome: If you want to be small, Halfling is strictly
better. Gnomes don't really get anything useful to the Magus.

Half-Elf: The flexible ability bonus is all that we
really get from the default Half-Elf. You can get some more by taking alternate racial
traits like Ancestral Arms and Dual-Minded, and the favored class bonus boosts the
Magus's Arcane Pool a little bit, or you can take the Elf favored class bonus for
extra Magus Arcana.

Half-Orc: The flexible ability bonus is nice, and
Darkvision is always great, but that's really all that we get. The favored class
bonus won't be reliable because the Magus depends so heavily on Shocking Grasp for
damage, so take the Human favored class bonus to boost your Arcane Pool.

Halfling: Small size gives you bonus AC and attack, and
Halflings get a bonus to Dexterity and their penalty is to Strength, which is useless.
The favored class bonus gives extra Magus Arcana, which is great. If you want to play
a small or sneaky Magus, Halflings are great choice.

Human: The ability bonus can go into either Dexterity
or Intelligence, and the bonus feat is always excellent. The favored class bonus
boosts the Magus's Arcane Pool a little bit, so you can rely on your Arcana a bit
more.

Traits

Anatomist (Combat): You probably don't have
enough extra feats to spare for Critical focus, so a small bonus to confirm
critical hits could be nice when you start swinging that Keen Rapier.

Deft Dodger (Combat): A bonus to your bad save,
but your Dexterity should be high enough that this isn't necessary.

Fencer (Combat): A Magus is not a Defender.

Nature's Mimic (Combat): With good Intelligence,
the Magus can make an excellent Librarian, so more knowledge skills are great.

Reactionary (Combat): Going first really isn't
very important to the Magus.

Reckless (Combat): With light armor, sometimes
it's nice to be able to get around without drawing attacks.

Resilient (Combat): Bonus to one of your good
saves, but more never hurts.

Child of the Temple (Faith): With good Intelligence,
the Magus can make an excellent Librarian, so more knowledge skills are great.

Devotee of the Green (Faith): With good Intelligence,
the Magus can make an excellent Librarian, so more knowledge skills are great.

Indomitable Faith (Faith): Bonus to one of your
good saves, but more never hurts.

Arcane Revitalization (Magic): One extra Arcane
Pool point per day is half of Extra Arcane Pool, which is pretty great. Of course
you need to confirm a critical hit, so either hit something with a rapier or
take a Coup De Grace and remind your GM that a Coup De Grace is an automatic
critical hit.

Arcane Temper (Magic): The Magus really doesn't
have a lot of trouble with Concentraiton checks, and going first isn't all that
important to the Magus.

Bladed Magic (Magic): A full extra minute on top of
the duration of your Arcane Pool enhancements is great, especially at low levels
when your pool is small and you haven't picked up Enduring Blade.

Cross-Disciplined (Magic): Many of the Magus' most
important spells are also Wizard spells. Shocking Grasp and Vampiric Touch are
both excellent examples.

Magical Lineage (Magic): There are many excellent
Magic traits for the Magus, but this is far and away the best. Throw it on Shocking
Grasp, and you can do some truly ridiculous things with it as a first level spell.
There are a ton of fantastic magic traits for the Magus, but this is simply too
good to pass up.

Malleable Magic (Magic): You can use a Pearl of
Power to recover a first level spell for 1000 gold. No such item exists to recharge
your Arcane Pool.

Pragmatic Activator (Magic): Using your Intelligence
in place of your Charisma for UMD makes it considerably more reliable.

Life of Toil (Social): Bonus to one of your good
saves, but more never hurts.

Forlorn (Elf Racial): Bonus to one of your good
saves, but more never hurts.

Warrior of Old (Elf Racial): Going first really
isn't very important to the Magus.

Elven Reflexes (Half-Elf Racial): Going first
really isn't very important to the Magus.

Skills

Climb (Str): Too situational.

Fly (Dex): Gaining a Fly speed gets you a free
+8 racial bonus to Fly, and your Dexterity will be good, so your Fly bonus should
be excellent. I wouldn't spend more than one rank for the +3 class skill bonus.

Intimidate (Cha): Charisma is a dump stat.

Knowledge (arcana) (Int): One of the most important
Knowledge skills, and your Intelligence will be good.

Knowledge (dungeoneering) (Int): One of the most
important Knowledge skills, and your Intelligence will be good.

Knowledge (planes) (Int): One of the most important
Knowledge skills, and your Intelligence will be good.

Ride (Dex): You don't get a mount, and you can cast
Fly. Why would you want a horse?

Spellcraft (Int): Essential for scrolls, enemy
spellcasters, and for crafting magic items if you choose to do so.

Swim (Str): Too situational.

Use Magic Device (Cha): Helpful for wands of Wizard
spells that aren't on your spell list. If you want to use the Wand Wielder or
Wand Mastery Magus Arcanas, this may be a good choice. You can also take the
Pragmatic Activator trait to use Intelligence in place of your dumped Charisma.

Feats

Arcane Strike: It's not a ton of damage, and
you can enhance your weapon to be magical before DR/magic becomes a problem,
but it's a good use of a swift action.

Riving Strike: Most of the spells that
the Magus uses against enemies won't allow a saving throw, but there are
some exceptions. Inflicting a -2 penalty to saves can really help to
offset the different in DC between the Magus and the Wizard.

Combat Expertise: You have the Intelligence and
Dexterity for it, but you need attack bonus more than AC, and you aren't going to
be using combat maneuvers.

Dimensional Agility: Due to the wording of Spell
Combat, you can use this to get a Pounce-style effect. Spell Combat allows
you to cast a spell with a Standard Action casting time (like Dimension
Door) before or after making a full attack. With Dimensional Agility, that
means that you can cast Dimension Door to teleport, make a full attack, and
potentially use a Swift Action if you have something with which to use it.
I wouldn't take this until fairly high level once you've got several 4th-level
spell slots, but level 15 is probably a good time since you get a third attack
from your base Attack bonus and have 4+ spell slots to spend.

Dimensional Assault: Not terribly useful,
but you can avoid attacks of opportunity and terrain, and look
ridiculously cool.

Dimensional Dervish: Full attack
and move twice your speed in one round. Dimension Door is a
4th level spell, which is hard, but this can have a lot of
applications and looks ridiculously cool.

Dimensional Savant: This
would be much better if you had Sneak Attack, but a free
+2 to hit is nice too.

Extra Arcana: Unfortunately, most Magus Arcana
are pretty bad. There are some fantastic ones, but they all have level requirements
which are arranged in such a way that you can get all of the essentials at the
level they become available with no conflicts.

Extra Arcane Pool: Not completely necessary, but
if you like to use your Arcane Pool, more points are always welcome.

Lunging Spell Touch: You generally want to be
within reach of your enemies so that you can use Spell Combat or Spellstrike,
but

Improved Initiative: The Magus isn't a save or
suck caster, and it isn't a Rogue, so going first isn't particularly important.

Lunge: Reach is great, and it can allow you to hit
a whole bunch of extra people without moving.

Power Attack: 13 Strength isn't particularly
hard to get, and Power Attack can be a lot of extra damage. However, the Magus
generally gets damage from spells, and because we only get 2/3 BAB, you won't
get nearly as much from Power Attack as other combat classes.

Preferred Spell: Pick Shocking Grasp, and you can
apply whatever fancy metamagic feats you want when you drop spells.

Spell Focus: Most of the spells which the Magus
depends on don't depend on a saving throw, but Evocation could be a good choice.

Greater Spell Specialization: You
won't be able to get this until very high level, and it's hard to
pick any one spell which you will like enough to justify this.
Preferred Spell is strictly better, as it allows you to apply
metamagic feats.

Spell Perfection: If you don't take this feat at
least once, you're doing yourself a huge disservice. Its prerequisites are steep
for good reason. The Magus only gets 6th-level spells, but this allows you to
metamagic one spell up to 9th level despite that limitation. Pick something good
like Shocking Grasp or Vampiric Touch. Use Empowered Maximized Vampiric Touch
(an 8th-level spell) as a 2nd-level spell. Use Maximized Quickened Intensified
Shocking Grasp as a 1st-level spell for 60 damage. It's not clear is Magical
Lineage makes Intensified work like this, so check with your GM.

Toughness: With d8 hit points, the Magus is a
squishy front-line character, so more hit points really help.

Weapon Finesse: The Magus really needs Dexterity,
so using Weapon Finesse is almost guaranteed.

Slashing Grace: This requires a dip into
Swashbuckler for Swashbuckler Finesse unless you want to use a whip. The
damage bonus is great, but remember that the Magus depends on spells for
damage, so Dexterity to damage isn't crucial.

Weapon Focus: Not fantastic, but required for
Slashing Grace.

Metamagic Feats

Dazing Spell: Dazed is a good status condition,
but 3 spell levels is very hard.

Elemental Spell: This hugely improves the
versatility of Shocking Grasp. If you take Preferred Spell, you can drop a second
level spell to cast Shocking Grasp as any element you need whenever you want.

Empower Spell: Not your best option, but good at
high levels when Shocking Grasp starts to taper off.

Intensified Spell: Perhaps the most important feat
to the Magus, Intensified Spell allows you to continue using Shocking Grasp long
past where it should have stopped being viable. For only one spell level, this is
a fantastic investment.

Maximize Spell: 4 spells levels is over half of your
spell level range. You could Maximize a second level spell, but the results will
disappoint you.

Piercing Spell: Spell Penetration is much better.

Quicken Spell: Take the "Quicken Magic" Arcana
instead.

Silent Spell: Very situational.

Still Spell: You need to be good enough at
Concentration to Cast Defensively in almost any situation, so Still Spell becomes
much less useful.

Weapons

Falcata: If you can spare a fea to get proficiency,
the Falcata is a very scary weapon in the hands of a Magus. 19-20/x3 crits can
really mess someone up, but remember that Spellstrike only allows you to do x2
damage with spells.

Longsword: 19-20 threat range is decent, but
critical hits with Spellstrike are about the scariest thing that a Magus can do,
so you really want a better threat range.

Rapier: 18-20 threat range, and it works with
Weapon Finesse. You can't use it with Slashing Grace because
it's not a slashing weapon, but it's a good choice until you can get Slashing
Grace if you choose to go that way. If your DM is nice they might let you take
Fencing Grace even though it goes beyond my "official SRD only" rule.

Scimitar: 18-20 threat range, and you can use it
with Slashing Grace, but doing so requires a Swashbuckler class dip.

Whip / Scorpion Whip: While it lacks the Rapier's
threat range, the whip has the added benefit of 15 foot reach, allowing you to hit
your enemies from a nice safe distance. You need to use a Scorpion Whip to deal
normal damage, and Scorpion Whip is a light weapon, so be sure to pick up Whip
Mastery if you also want to use Slashing Grace. Of course this means that you need
5 feats to make the Whip a good weapon, so be very careful when considering it.

Armor

Armor is presented in the order in which you should acquire it, rather than
alphabetical order.

Mithral Buckler: For 1015gp, the mithral buckler
is +1 ac, no check penalty, and no spell failure. Literally every arcane
spellcaster should have one. It costs half as much to enhance as a ring of
protection, and provides just as much AC. Get this before you enhance your
armor because you won't have to abandon it when you get better armor proficiency.

Mithral Shirt: Your best bet for AC early on, and
if you go up to 22 Dexterity it can remain your best bet for your full career.

Haramaki: You only need to upgrade to Haramaki if
your Dexterity bonus ever hits +10, which is pretty unlikely.

Mithral Kikko: When you hit level 7, Mithral Kikko
becomes your best option. It has one more point of AC than a Mithral Shirt and
has the same +6 maximum dexterity bonus. Because it's mithral it's still treated
as light armor, so you don't sacrifice speed.

Mithral Tatami-Do: When you hit level 13, upgrade
to heavy armor. Unless your Dexterity is high enough to justify using Haramaki,
this is your best AC option at a total of +12. You sacrifice a bit of speed, but
by this level you can cast Fly.

Cross-Classing and Prestige Classes

The Magus really gets everything that it needs to be functional, and it's very
dependent on class level both for spells and for Arcane Pool. If you take 6 levels
and get the Broad Study Magus Arcana, you might be able to do something crazy with
another class, but it will take a long time to come anywhere near the power level
of a straight Magus or really any other single-class character. 6 levels is not a
class dip.

Swashbuckler: Swashbuckler Finesse saves you a
feat on Weapon Finesse, and opens up Slashing Grace. A human Swashbuckler can
get Slashing Grace at first level, then switch into Magus for the rest of their
build. This is nice at low levels, but at high levels you may notice the loss of
spellcasting and Magus class features, and once you can spam Shocking Grasp all
day long the Dexterity bonus to damage will seem puny.

Example Build - Generic Rapier Magus

Shocking Grasp all the things!

This is, conceptually, a very simply build. It takes all of the essential Magus
options, and should be reasonably effective at every level.

Abilities

We will assume the 25-point buy abilities suggested above, but the other
suggested abilities can also use this build without any problems.

Race

Elves provide a lot of fantastic bonuses for the Magus. Humans would work very well
here too, and their free bonus feat is certainly welcome. Being an Elf gives us a +2
to Dexterity and Intelligence, but a -2 penalty to Constitution. Because the increased
intelligence gets us extra skill ranks, we can afford to spend our favored class bonus
on additional hit points to compensate for our low Constitution. Unfortunately, Elf
doesn't get a bonus feat, so we can't get Slashing Grace until evel 5.

Skills

With 18 starting intelligence, we have 6 skill ranks per level, which is more than
enough. As we increase out intelligence with our headband, pick up Knowledge (Nature),
Knowledge (Local), and one other skill that makes sense for the campaign.

Fly: One rank at some point, but no more than that.

Knowledge (Arcana): Max.

Knowledge (Dungeoneering): Max.

Knowledge (Planes): Max.

Knowledge (Religion): Not a class skill, but very important,
so max it.

Perception: Not a class skill, but still extremely useful.
After your one rank in Fly, spend the rest of those ranks on Perception.

Spellcraft: Max.

Traits

Forlorn, combined with spending our favored class bonus on hit points, completely
negates the racial penalty to Constitution. Magical Lineage (Shocking Grasp) allows
us to do some very interesting and powerful things with Shocking Grasp.